Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany

From the 12th chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:

“Live in harmony with one
another; do not be haughty,… never be conceited.Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought
for what is noble in the sight of all.If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all…Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

St. Paul wrote those words to the Christians in Rome as
instructions on how to live as followers of Jesus Christ in a pagan world,
pagan in the sense of not only the official Roman religion but also in the
sense of the many different religious sects that were part of society at that
time, and also recognizing the deep cynicism of those who professed belief in
some form of religion but in reality believed in nothing except
themselves.These words are also
addressed to us today in a real and important way, as what we know as Western culture
drifts farther and father away from its Christian roots, as various sects
defined by religious enthusiasm seem to flourish, as people turn to self-help
gurus to solve their problems, as a militant secularism forces faith out of the
public square and into the ghetto of privatization, as young people drift into
either a vague religiosity with no roots or content, or to professed atheism.

By its very essence Christianity calls for public witness by
those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and his Church.As St Paul tells us, this witness must always
be done with humility and in a way that tries to preserve peace, even with
those who provoke or insult us.“Repay
no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.”I love that phrase of St.
Paul:“take thought for what is noble in
the sight of all.” What is noble.It sounds
almost quaint to use such words.

The past few weeks were marked in a terrible way by the
horrendous slaughter of the French journalists in Paris by representatives of
what is called radical Islam.One could
not fail to be moved by the photographs shown on TV and the Internet that
showed the reality of the bloody carnage that so shocked and outraged the
world.The most public response to this
tragedy was the march in Paris organized by the French government but also supported
by many European countries, whose leaders marched in what was understood as a
show of witness to the world, that witness of solidarity in the face of terror,
that witness to one of the important freedoms of a democratic society: the
freedom of speech.

This solidarity was encapsulated in the phrase:“Je suis Charlie Hebdo”, "I am Charlie Hebdo" the latter being the name of the French newspaper
that is known for its satiric cartoons, skewering politicians, religious
leaders-- everyone and everything is considered fair game for Charlie Hebdo.And so by saying “Je suis Charlie Hebdo” I am
not only claiming solidarity with the violated humanity of the cartoonists who
were gunned down. I am not only claiming
solidarity with those who refuse to bow to the threat of terror.I am also claiming solidarity with the right
to free speech and specifically as was and is practiced by Charlie Hebdo.

I decided to look at these cartoons that have elicited
controversy not only in the Muslim world but in the Christian world as
well.What I found upset me greatly, not
because I am a prude or easily shocked, but because of the deliberately crude
and offensive nature of the cartoons.This is not satire. This is not social commentary.This obliterates St. Paul’s words: “but take
note of what is noble in the sight of all.”Now satire is not meant to be nice. It is meant to be biting and should
be. But satire is about skewing someone or something that has betrayed a noble
cause, something that is deeply hypocritical, that denies freedom, and so
forth.Religion is not immune from satire
nor should it be.In fact, in this
present time, the Catholic Church could do with a healthy dose of satire from
both those who love her and those who do not.

In the context of what happened in Paris, we must think about
our affirmation of freedom of speech, what it means.There is no one here, I should hope, who does
not believe that we should be free to say what we want to say without fear of
reprisal from the government or from groups that oppose our beliefs.But because one has this precious freedom
does not mean that one should use this freedom in a defamatory and scurrilous
way.Pope Francis responded to a
question about freedom of speech and religious freedom with the following
paraphrase: “Suppose you insult my
mother, I would give you a punch in the nose.” This remark by the Pope, which indeed invites commentary, was understood by some
as a denial of freedom of expression, of freedom of speech, with respect to
personal and specifically religious belief.

Gérard Biard, the new editor of Charlie Hebdo, in an
interview with Chuck Todd for NBC responded to Pope Francis’s controversial
comments about the relationship between free speech and religious faith in
these words: “Every time that we draw a cartoon of Muhammad, every time that we
draw a cartoon of the Prophet, every time that we draw a cartoon of God, we
defend the freedom of religion,” said Biard. “We declare that God must not be a
political or public figure. He must be a private figure. We defend the freedom
of religion. Yes, it is also the freedom of speech, but it is the freedom of
religion.Religion should not be a
political argument. If faith, if religious argument, steps into the political
arena, it becomes a totalitarian argument. Secularism protects us against this.
Secularism guarantees democracy and ensures peace. Secularism allows all
believers and all non-believers to live in peace, and that is what we defend.”

No.
You are wrong, terribly wrong, M. Biard. Je ne suis pas Charlie Hebdo.I am a Catholic Christian who deplores
violence and who loves peace and whose heart breaks for those who were killed
and their families; and yet who
understands that sin is a reality in this world and manifests itself all too
often as violence.I am a Catholic
Christian who is saddened by a culture that has forgotten that the blood of God
incarnate was shed for the sins of the world, that has forgotten what love
means and demands.I am a Catholic
Christian who knows that egalité, fraternité, liberté, equality, brotherhood
and freedom can never be understood or founded on the self-centered godless
understanding of man that pervades the contemporary culture of Europe and more
and more in this country.Freedom,
equality and brotherhood can never be the accomplishment or the product of a
political system of thought where “je suis” always takes precedence over “nous
sommes”, where “I am” always takes precedence over “we are”.It is only a culture founded upon the truth
of the Christian faith, a truth that is not a system but a person, a person who
is God in the flesh:it is only a
culture, a civilization that is truly imbued with the truth of the Christian
faith and its moral demands that is founded on God’s love for man that can
understand what freedom truly is, what equality really is, what brotherhood
really is.

That
huge rally in Paris after the terrible massacre of the cartoon
journalists:what did that mean in the
end?Solidarity with the journalists,
showing resolve in the face of terror?Yes. But upholding the right of freedom of speech?Is this the freedom that those who fought in
two World Wars on European soil died for?The freedom to mock in scatological and crude ways the religious beliefs
of those with whom they claim to be bound and to call their brothers in
fraternité?

Compare that rally and march with the march on
Selma led by Martin Luther King.Those
who marched in the Paris demonstration were in a way self-congratulating
sentimentalists who really had nothing to lose by their participation.But the march to Selma was powered by a
profoundly Christian understanding of equality and freedom and brotherhood that
was in deep conflict with the society in which those who marched lived, a
society that ironically and tragically called itself Christian but in reality
denied the meaning of the Cross of Christ and the freedom the Cross bought in
the name of Love. And it cost, it cost
dearly to participate in that march to Selma.They were insulted, they were spat on, and some were beaten, and many
were put into jail.But they knew that
what they were marching for, fighting for, was true, not because this was part
of some ideology about freedom but because the center of their cause was the
God who loved them and their enemies so much that he died for them, that they
might all be free, that they might all be free. “For freedom Christ has set you
free”, says St. Paul.

And
this is something that is not merely religion, not merely a private belief. For
in a few moments we, you and I, in this church will affirm that nous sommes Chrétiens
catholiques and that therefore we are free men and women by participating in
that very act that makes us free, as we participate in the Sacrifice of the Son
to the Father that bought our freedom at the greatest cost possible, no holding
the knife back here as with Abraham and Isaac, as Calvary is re-presented
on this altar and the life-giving grace that pours forth from the acceptance by
the Father of his Son’s Sacrifice envelops us all, gloriously stricken by
grace, lost in wonder, love and praise.